Choosing between Norton Internet Security 2004 and ZoneAlarm Basic...

Hi everyone. I'm in a dilemna. I hear that ZoneAlarm is the better firewall but I own Norton Internet Security 2004. I tried to double firewall but it caused more problems than what I felt like dealing with. So, which is the better firewall? If it's ZoneAlarm Basic, I might try uninstalling Norton Internet Security 2004 and doing a custom reinstall of it so it only installs the anti-virus. Anyway, your advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Well if you regualary use P2P programs like eMule,Overnet or Shareaza then you should keep Norton. ZoneAlarm doesn't work well with such P2P programs.
If you don't use P2P then ZoneAlarm will provide better and easier protection for you.

Just a word of advice...
Double firewalling causes system problems about 99% of the time. Generally not recommended.
From what I know of the 2 fw's in question, their feature sets are very similar, you could probably choose by which interface you like better or which one seems easier for you.
Of course take into account possible compatibility issues as Rejzor mentioned.

Yeah. I really rather like both of the firewalls interfaces. But, I am mainly looking for advice based upon which firewall does a better job of protecting my computer against hackers. Thanks for the info though se7engreen.

Properly tweaked, ZA Pro 4.5.594 has a better security mode than NIS 2004. And it is easier to setup. If you're using the basic version of ZA, then NIS would be "safer". Note that NIS uses more of your CPU clock time.

ZA Pro has a hard drive/cache cleaner, but NIS may do a better job at blocking ads. Avoid ZA Pro 5.0. It is very buggy. Personally, I think ZA is goind downhill...recently acquired by checkpoint.

Currently using ZA Pro 4.5 but may switch to Tiny or Outpost Pro if the folks at ZA don't clean up version 5.0.

If it is ZA basic (free) and NIS2004 you are comparing, then NIS will provide far more configurability as well as active content and ad filtering. Both provide users with good basic protection.

With ZA free you can allow applications Internet access, but not limit the type or destinations. NIS, while having automatic rules, is still a rule based firewall which allows users to modify or customize rules for each application by protocol, ports, IP's etc.

Oh ok. I guess I'll be sticking with Norton Internet Security then. Now if only I could figure out how to configure it using the advanced configuration. I have no idea which ports to leave open and which to close and things like that. We didn't study much about ports in my Networking class that I had a year or two ago. Maybe I'll learn more when I go back to a new college this year.

Oh ok. I guess I'll be sticking with Norton Internet Security then. Now if only I could figure out how to configure it using the advanced configuration. I have no idea which ports to leave open and which to close and things like that.

Click to expand...

You may find Customizing AtGuard/NIS Rules helpful in getting you started in that regard and you can always ask here for help/suggestions with rule configurations. (Be prepared to do a little studying to gain an understanding of how things work before wading into rule sets)